The strange yellow rose

The end was close. The air was crispy and fresh while the last days of the Indian summer kissed goodbye to us with its remaining warm rays. I was hanging out with three of my mates, messing about as usual, playing some rounds of cards before heading off to home. Not so long a familiar face greeted us that we had not seen for a long while. It was Sam.

‘Hey Sam! How’s it going? I haven’t seen you in ages! And...where is your chain?’ Sam’s face was redder than any other time he blushed. His mousy blonde hair didn’t help much with the situation. It made him look like a tomato.

‘Hey Gwen! I must have lost it after wearing it all the time!’ I chuckled briefly before Ben broke the moment with his annoyed expression and rude tone. ‘Are you going to sit down and play a round of cards or are you just here to chat Gwen up?’ I immediately punched Ben in the shoulder while Sam sat down with us, hiding his blushing face under his fringe. Now five of us were competing against each other. Jenny was winning. She was a really shy girl but exceptionally smart. Poor Tommy was behind; card games were never his strong suit, nor was Ben’s apparently. I was second after Jenny. However, I noticed Sam wasn’t really “giving it all” while playing. As if he was there but also somewhere else. His eyes were empty like glass marbles showing little to no interest in the game or his environment. I got closer to Sam to nudge his arm with my elbow, but he jumped up before I could touch him. His cards flew everywhere as he stood up; this was really unlike him. Then he gave us his strangest request.

‘Can we play something else?’ asked Sam with a relatively blank expression - What changed him in the last couple of weeks? - I wondered. ‘Ok...Sam let’s play then. What game do you want to play?’ It left me feeling quite surprised when the words left Sam’s mouth 'I want to play truth or dare'. This wasn’t like Sam at all; he despised that game. “Is he trying to tell me something?” I asked myself, and he told me out right I had to do a dare. Why couldn’t I pick between the two?

I took Sam's request regardless of the strange circumstances. He never asked or did things without a reason. ‘OK Sam, I’ll do the dare. So, what is my task?’ I said it as confident as ever, however it stirred me inside a little when he said what he wanted. ‘Bring me the yellow rose from the well!’ He shortly told us he wanted to give it to his mum, which eased me enough to agree to pluck the rose from the inner side of the well. Just before setting off, I heard Ben muttering something under his breath, it sounded like “ You are not gonna like what you are about to find.” That sentence hasn't left my mind during my quick detour to the well; it was about five or seven minutes away from where we played cards with the others.

I stood a few metres away from the old well as I arrived, admiring the old stone work. The lime mortar in places had been worn away by the weather and the passing decades; it was ready to crumble in a few places but it wasn’t the instability of the well that has troubled me. Ben's words kept circling in my head. But it all disappeared when the sunshine tore a streak in the clouds and the warm light hit the stone well, illuminating the strange yellow rose. It was an interesting looking plant, nothing like what I had seen before.

The stems, the leaves and the root that exposed themselves on the cracked walls were teal in colour making the petals glow in a green hue. The leftover morning dew on the petals glistened like tiny crystal beads in the light. I understood why Sam would want to give it to his mum. But why not just ask? After looking at the unique flower for a while I felt mesmerised so I gently placed myself on top of the well, one leg on the wall that faced the inner side and the other stretched out behind me for a steady balance. It felt like I was back at school doing gymnastics again... Then I carefully leaned towards the rose; one wrong move could end me. I did not fancy breaking a limb or my neck but somehow everything ceased to exist around the rose. As I leaned I guided the rose towards me so I would be able to break it off of the stem. Everything slowed down while a strange voice was echoing from the well below. The echoing voice was oddly familiar as if I heard it not so long ago. For a while I couldn't make out what the voice was trying to say. It was soft and quiet like a lullaby. But when my hand got a decent grip on the rose, steady enough to pluck it, the echo grew louder and blasted into my face bringing a strong wind with it. It had become clear as day what it was trying to say. “GWEN STOP! DO NOT PLUCK THE ROSE!” it said. I recognised the voice as Sam’s.

The trans broke and I soon came to realise I was too close to falling into the deep depths of the well. I tried to regain my balance as safely as I could but I needed someone to pull me back. I was stuck in an awkward position. The wall of the well started crumbling under my weight. My eyes were zigzagging everywhere while I felt the sweat freezing on my forehead, hands and neck in the cold breeze as my mind was racing to find a solution fairly quickly. Then I found myself staring into the darkness below me. A beam of light tore from the thick passing clouds which then was illuminating what was hidden inside the well. A golden sparkle caught the corner of my eye as the beam was getting wider. A golden chain with a tag. The familiar item struck me with a memory faster than lighting would. It was Sam’s golden chain. But how and why? My mind was flooded with thoughts, circling endlessly in a loop. It didn’t take long for the light to reveal Sam’s body. Or at least what’s left of it. Sam’s body was picked clean by something; there were teeth marks on the bones near the joints. I felt awful for hoping he wasn’t alive when he landed. Considering the marks on the bones may be that was the best to believe. For comfort, at least.

The pressure, that hasn’t been the faintest, was intensely getting higher. Making the wrong move would end in having the same fate as Sam. I felt cold sweat drenching my clothes once again and my body aching from being in the same position for who-knows-how-long. Then a loud crack made me lose my line of thought. As if something was very near. I moved my head inches upward to look among the wilderness of thorny stems and teal leaves to spot a hand of the same shade approaching my arm which was about to pluck the rose. How long has it been there for? It certainly looked like it was a part of the rose. My eyes were desperately scanning the bush to find an explanation for this. After a few minutes, my blood ran dry when my gaze fell upon the ugliest sight in my whole life. A pair of red eyes were staring back at me. Its gaze carried a great weight of hunger and thirst. The eyes were bulging out of their veiny sockets, twitching here and there. Its colour was the same shade as the rose blending it with the rest. The more I was staring at this monstrosity the more I had the urge to scream. As if, feeling the crumbling well under my knee while I was leveling with the violent gaze wasn’t a reason to. There was no means to be loud. No one would hear me. I think it knew no one would. The wall crumbled away and I began to fall. The bush-like creature climbed down the well like a lizard to the bottom waiting for me to finally hit the ground. It seemed like it was the end; then an invisible force started pulling me back from falling further. It was a gentle whisper telling me “Run Gwen! Run! Save our friends!”

I landed on the grainy gravel, tearing holes into my favourite jeans. I was a few inches from where the wall of the well used to be before crumbling.. I spotted the "bush" climbing up the walls while I was gathering myself to run towards the town. My life was barely holding onto a thread so pressing my paper thin luck was unwise. I bolted to the direction of the town like a scared animal, sprinting as fast as my legs could carry me without collapsing or looking back.

Soon, I tumbled into the closest inconvenience store alerting everyone about the well and Sam’s body. I wasn’t sure if they understood every word I said while I was puffing for air but the words “well” and “body” seemed to send everyone in the store flying. Meanwhile everyone was losing their heads in panic, I grabbed a similar looking rose from the flower stand and threw the money on top of the till. Poor shopkeeper went paler while he was contacting the authorities. However, I wasn’t going to stick around to give my statement just yet. Hopefully my plan to expose the fake Sam would work. I made my way back to our play spot and I hid behind a thick bush making sure they have not noticed my presence. Everything seemed to be the same as before when I left them.

Before approaching my friends with the decoy rose and possibly unleashing something my parents never prepared me to see, I took a few very deep breaths. Then I was ready to bite the bullet.